Upsurge Festival Presents

An Honest Conversation

Monday, 19 of SEPTEMBER 2022 @ 6:00 PM

40-year-old choreographer Sacha Copland and 24-year-old dancer Bjorn Asland, who grew up in Pakaraka, will talk while dancing for 1 hour. They will try to be honest. Sacha has choreographed more than 20 dance works and now wants to talk and dance. Bjorn wants to dance and talk. Both will try to dance, talk and be honest. Bjorn and Sacha are both naturally quite chatty for dancers so that’s a good start.

Bjorn started training with Elizabeth Russell at the Northern Dance Academy when they were 9. But they also found their childhood pretty frustrating. ‘Rural Northland is beautiful but when you are trying to be a performer, there just isn’t the infrastructure. Also, being visibly queer in small-town New Zealand did make me feel a little isolated. Yet I am grateful for the grounding it gave me and a connection to the earth.’

Sacha Copland is the director of Java Dance Company, which has performed internationally. Bjorn created Sublime Interludes which was nominated for Best in Fringe at the 2022 Wellington Fringe Festival and which won the Momentus Movement Award for choreography and dancing.

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